


Moves in the Field

by storiesinthedark



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: 2018-2019 NHL Season, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Skating, Daydreaming, Figure Skater Nicklas Backstrom, M/M, Masturbation in Shower, Pining, Slow Build, Washington Capitals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:34:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24705412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/storiesinthedark/pseuds/storiesinthedark
Summary: His mind is wandering when a flash of black speeding across the ice catches his eye. He leans further over the railing, trying to see who in the midst of a public skate session is moving that quickly. He follows the figure’s path to the center of the ice where he can clearly see a blonde and beautiful man who stops and checks his watch. Sasha can feel his heartbeat rising. The man is absolutely gorgeous. He’s not built like other figure skaters Sasha’s seen and even as far away from the ice as he is, Sasha can tell he’s tall and muscular, but not in the same way his teammates are - there’s a gracefulness to him. Then the man turns, and waves to a small girl with blonde hair who has hobbled her way over to him. And fuck, he’s good with kids.Sasha feels his heart skip. That hasn’t happened in a long time. Oh.
Relationships: Nicklas Backstrom/Alexander Ovechkin
Comments: 16
Kudos: 115
Collections: The Sin Bin: A Hockey RPF Kink Meme





	Moves in the Field

Practice was over and it had been a long one. Reirden had run the boys hard up and down the rink with drill after drill. Sasha’s relentless pushing for his feet to go faster has started to seep into his hamstrings creating a satisfying ache. He hopes they’re able to break this losing streak soon. 

Typically after a practice like this, Sasha would shower and just head home, but he’s supposed to do a quick interview with Rob Carlin and Alan May about the upcoming games, so he’s stuck at the rink for at least another fifteen minutes until they’re ready for him...and he can count on one hand how many times they’re ready on time. He meanders out of the locker room and up onto the upper level overlooking the ice, as that’s where the interview will eventually take place, and leans against the railing looking out over the rink. The public session has started and Sasha surveys everyone taking the ice, most of them in rental skates. He can’t help but chuckle as he watches several people, adults and children alike, wipe out almost immediately.

The session starts to fill up and Sasha turns to check how the set-up for the interview is coming. They aren’t completely set-up yet, so he continues watching the skaters doing laps on the ice. The session is rather uneventful and it helps bring Sasha out of his head, where he’s been mulling over the last five losses. 

His mind is wandering when a flash of black speeding across the ice catches his eye. He leans further over the railing, trying to see who in the midst of a public skate session is moving that quickly. He follows the figure’s path to the center of the ice where he can clearly see a blonde and beautiful man who stops and checks his watch. Sasha can feel his heartbeat rising. The man is absolutely gorgeous. He’s not built like other figure skaters Sasha’s seen and even as far away from the ice as he is, Sasha can tell he’s tall and muscular, but not in the same way his teammates are - there’s a gracefulness to him. Then the man turns, and waves to a small girl with blonde hair who has hobbled her way over to him. And fuck, he’s good with kids. 

Sasha feels his heart skip. That hasn’t happened in a long time. Oh.

“Ovi?” Rob Carlin calls from behind him. “We’re ready for you.” 

Sasha startles and turns around. “Of course,” he says, following Rob to the interview set-up. He takes a seat in a director’s chair across from Rob and Alan and lets the sound guy mic him up and once they get the go-ahead, they start the interview. 

He assumes that he answered the questions just fine as no one asked him to repeat or explain anything strange, but he wasn’t really paying attention. They’ve stopped recording and he stands up to stretch, turning slightly to see if the man on the ice is still there. Maybe if he just cranes his neck a little further, he could get a better perspective of the ice. 

“Thanks, Ovi,” Rob says, reaching out to shake Sasha’s hand, once again interrupting his thoughts. “Good luck with the game tomorrow.”

“Thanks.” 

He walks back to the railing, trying to keep his steps even as he does, and looks out over the ice. The man is still there, this time crouched on the ice with a girl with a bright pink helmet. Sasha smiles and takes the stairs two at a time down to the public entrance of the rink. Once inside, he looks around in the stands and, sure enough, he finds exactly who he’s looking for. 

“Hi Lauren,” Sasha says, sitting down on the metal bench next to her. 

Lauren laughs as she looks up from her book. She’s sitting by herself with a fluffy white fleece blanket draped across her lap. “Hi, Alex. Wasn’t expecting to see you here.” 

“Ah, no. I had interview, so I stay late,” Sasha says, averting his eyes from her. He stares out at the man on the ice helping Lyla skate. He’s not skating with the power that Sasha saw when he first took the ice, but in the way he’s demonstrating a very fundamental stroking pattern for Lyla, Sasha can see the years of training he spent as a skater. Sasha can only imagine how beautiful he must be when he combines his power and speed with this care for technique. God, he needs to know who he is.

“So,” Lauren starts after a few minutes of silence has stretched between them. “What’s up? Anything you need me to talk to T.J. about?” 

Sasha whips his head toward her. “What? No. No. T.J. is good. Nothing...no. I just...forget it.” He stands up quickly and begins to leave the bleachers, when Lauren reaches out to stop him, her hand gently resting on his elbow.

“His name is Nicklas. Nicklas Backstrom,” she whispers. “He’s a figure skating coach. Used to be a competitive skater for Sweden. Think he won a few gold medals. Lyla loves him.”

“How did...how did you…” Sasha stutters. 

She smiles at him, patting him gently on the shoulder and pulling her hand away. He’s seen that smile before and it reassures him that everything is fine. “Why else would you come looking for me if you didn’t need to tell me anything about T.J.? Your secret’s safe with me.” She looks like she wants to say more, something lurking underneath, but she doesn’t. He’s grateful for that.

Sasha chuckles. “Thank you,” he says. Then, he turns and exits the rink. The whole way home, he can’t get Nicklas out of his head.

  
  


\---

The next day Sasha wasn’t expected to be at the rink. They had a game that night, and while there was a morning skate, Sasha wasn’t supposed to attend. He did anyway. 

Now Sasha stands at the front desk of Medstar, leaning over the counter as the young woman behind it clicks around carefully on her computer. He thought he was being sneaky in his disguise of a black hoodie and jeans instead of his usual sweats, but he seems to have misjudged just how noticeable he is no matter what he’s wearing. 

He’s already shaken the hands of three different fans who wanted to give him their thoughts on the powerplay and taken six photos with some very small children dressed in hockey gear in the time it’s taken the woman at the desk, Amanda her name tag says, to look up the information he’s requested. He wishes she were faster at this, but he knows she’s new. After all, that’s why he waited for her to be on shift. He never would have asked Maureen, the rink’s general manager, to do this. He shakes his head thinking about how much she would have yelled at him. It would probably be just like the time he watched Tommy ask if he could get the number of the new rink guard because he was cute, only to get yelled at about “responsibility at work” and “abuse of power” in front of a large group of parents. Tom hasn’t ventured out to talk to the front desk staff since and Sasha hopes to avoid a similar fate.

“He’s scheduled to teach a group lesson at 2 PM today, Mr. Ovechkin,” Amanda says, bringing him back to reality. 

Sasha smiles. Perfect. 

“Thank you, Amanda,” he replies, scribbling a signature hastily on a puck that he took from practice and handing it over. He’s not really supposed to be giving out autographs per his contract, but this is important information she’s providing. He can make an exception. No one needs to know. “Thank you so much.” 

“Anything for you,” she replies, turning the puck over in her hands. She may be looking at him with hearts in her eyes, but he doesn’t have time to consider this. Sasha’s perfect blonde figure skating instructor is teaching a class and he’s got about an hour to kill before then. 

  
  


\---

Sasha has it all planned out in his head. First, he’s going to put his skates on and do some skating during the public session while he waits until the group lesson is over. Then, once the session is over, he’s going to skate over to Nicklas and have a chat. He’s not sure what he’s going to say entirely, but he’ll figure that out when he gets to that part. 

That is, of course, not what happens. 

The moment Sasha takes the ice, even though it’s fifteen minutes into the hour public session, he’s immediately bombarded by children who want to skate with him or who want an autograph or photo. He just dealt with some very excited fans and Amanda literally an hour ago and yet he still forgot about this part of being out in public. He grumbles to himself about his own stupidity. Seriously, how could he be this dumb?

He causes such a disturbance, even in the usual chaos of the rink, that the children from Nicklas’s class have stopped paying attention. When Sasha looks over his shoulder to catch a glimpse of Nicklas, he finds him glaring back. It’s a look that Sasha has only seen once before. The longer he looks back, the surer he is that Nicklas is figuring out fifteen, no twenty ways to murder him with his skates and make it look like an accident. He thinks he’d let Nicklas if that’s what it took to talk to him. He tentatively waves and smiles in response, but Nicklas just rolls his eyes as he tries to corral his class. Sasha definitely feels his heart flutter. 

Group lessons end and Sasha thinks he’ll finally have his chance to chat with Nicklas, but once again he’s missed something. After dismissing his class, Nicklas skates over to a little boy who’s dressed like a bright blue marshmallow and begins teaching again. Right. He didn’t consider private lessons. Nicklas is, after all, a skating coach. Of course he’s always teaching whenever he’s on the ice. 

Sasha takes another lap around the rink before finally deciding that this plan isn’t going to work out. He skates toward the hockey benches and then off the ice as he would during practice. Time to come up with a different plan. 

In the locker room, he unties his skates, placing them back in his locker, and then takes a quick shower before redressing in his black hoodie and jeans. His mind is trying to come up with a better way to accidentally run into Nicklas. Maybe he’ll sweet talk Amanda again and find out when Nicklas usually arrives at the rink and then time a meeting in the elevator on the way up from the parking lot. She’s so infatuated with him, she would definitely give him this info. It’s just another idea to add to the list. 

He’s not expecting to find Nicklas waiting for him outside the locker room door as he leaves in the private area of the rink, only accessible to those with credentials. This was not a scenario his brain had come up with, though he’s honestly surprised he didn’t. It’s definitely a simpler scenario then coincidentally running into him while Sasha’s out on a run through his neighborhood, especially since that would require Sasha finding out where Nicklas lives...and that just seems like it’s crossing into stalking territory. He just hadn’t counted on him being a rule breaker. Sasha files that piece of information away for later.

Nicklas is still dressed in his all black skating clothes and he still has his skates on with his hard guards, which are also black. He’s leaning against the wall, arms crossed over his chest. 

“How...how did you get here?” Sasha says, trying not to sound startled. 

Nicklas raises an eyebrow and shakes his head. “Not important,” he says. 

“Actually--” Sasha starts, but Nicklas continues on as if he never heard him. 

“You were clearly looking for me on the ice. Why? You don’t even know who I am,” he says.  Sasha pauses. “Oh. You want answer,” he says, scrambling his brain for a suitable response “Umm...I hope...maybe talk to you...about skating lessons? You give lesson to Oshie girls. Lauren say you name is Nicklas Backstrom. I’m--”

Nicklas’s eyes narrow. “I know who you are, which is why I don’t believe that.” 

“No, no,” Sasha insists. “Is true. Coach say...my skating need improvement and I see you skate today and think, ‘I wonder if he could give lessons’.” Sasha smiles his most charming smile. The one that always gets him his way. 

Nicklas’s eyes narrow further, how is that even possible, and Sasha feels like he’s looking into his soul.

“Fine,” Nicklas says after a few moments of intense staring. “I have time for one private lesson on Thursdays at 3 PM. Lessons are forty-two dollars for a half-hour. I only accept cash or check.”

“Ok,” Sasha replies slowly. “Thursday. Ok.” 

Nicklas nods, then turns on his heel and disappears around the corner leaving Sasha alone again. He hears the hall door slam shut and his whole body collapses, releasing tension he had been holding on to. He takes a deep breath and then it hits him. He has a date. Well, not a  _ date  _ date, but still he has a time set to see Nicklas where it’s just them. Sasha leaves the rink with a smile glued to his face. He wonders if he can leverage his good mood to motivate the team to win against the Sharks tonight. 

It doesn’t help. 

  
  


\---

The All-Star Break starts for the team the moment the final buzzer sounds in Toronto and Sasha can tell that the team needs it. Badly. They lost against the Sharks at home in overtime the night before and then they lost again tonight against Toronto in regulation, bringing the total string of losses to seven. Seven losses straight. They haven’t seen a string like that in a while and it’s grating on them. They can’t seem to get it together and the more they lose, the more everyone starts to tear themselves apart from the inside. 

The break is coming at a good time. They need a break from the pressure of being the reigning champs, they need a break from the losing, and as Sasha found out rather abruptly, they need a break from him. His extra excitement over getting to talk with Nicklas has made him “unbearable” according to some of his teammates - read: Carly and Batya. He knows he’s been louder than normal and only Osh seems to be ok with this fact...probably because Lauren told him about Nicklas (he makes a mental note to ask about that later...so much for keeping his secret). But, in his defense, Zhenya didn’t have to be so mean when telling him to “shut the fuck up” before storming off to the showers. He’s really glad they have this time off, even if it seems Sasha has obligated himself to more practice with his new skating lessons. 

  
  


\---

3 PM on Thursday finally rolls around and Sasha feels as though relief from the pent up excitement is finally in sight. The locker room is empty, not even the equipment staff are around today as Sasha puts on his skates and pulls his issued Capitals hoodie over his head. He makes his way over to the rink via the player's bench instead of the normal public skate entrance and steps out onto the ice, which has already started to go rough. He’s skating during one of the freestyle sessions, so the other skaters don’t seem to care that he’s there, more focused on their own skating than him. He’s grateful to not cause another scene.

Nicklas is standing in the middle of the ice wrapping up another lesson with a small girl wearing a pink tutu. Nicklas crouches down and writes something in a notebook, which he then hands the little girl and she skates to the public exit to the rink. Sasha feels his heart pitter-patter in his chest as he watches the girl turn back to wave wildly at Nicklas once she’s safely off the ice and Nicklas waves back. Then, Nicklas turns around and all of his attention is focused on him as if he has a sixth sense and could feel Sasha lurking in the distance. His smile drops and Sasha’s heart leaps into his stomach. This is it. 

“Come on over,” Nicklas yells, waving for Sasha to join him. “I can’t teach you anything if you’re standing over there.” 

Sasha skates over and stops, blowing a little snow against Nicklas’s feet. Nicklas rolls his eyes, which Sasha notices are very green and gorgeous.

“Did your trainers give you any specific instructions on what you should be looking to improve?” Nicklas asks. 

Sasha shrugs. “Say I need to be faster. A lot,” he replies. It’s not a total lie. The trainers do tell him this a lot of the time. They’ve just never suggested he take figure skating lessons to fix the problem. But, Nicklas doesn’t need to know that part.

Nicklas nods. “Ok,” he says, “Let me see some basics then. Usually, if there’s a problem, it stems from the basics. So, forward stroking, forward crossovers, backward stroking, and backward crossovers. Let’s start there.” 

Sasha stands there for a moment, watching Nicklas before Nicklas snaps at him. “I can’t evaluate your skating if you don’t skate.” 

“Right,” Sasha responds, shaking himself out of his daze. He starts off with forward strokes around the rink. Everything feels so simple. He hasn’t skated like this since he was a kid and just learning. He isn’t moving at top speed as he knows Nicklas is looking for form. He gets to the corners of the rink and takes the crossovers as quickly as he can and then heads down the other end of the rink repeating the crossovers at the other end. He stops when he gets almost back to where he started and he skates back to where Nicklas is standing. 

Nicklas stares at him and then motions for Sasha to go back. “Backward and backward crossovers,” Nicklas says. 

Right. He needs to do every drill for Nicklas to really evaluate his skating. He takes a deep breath and begins gliding backward, following a similar pattern when he gets to the end curve of the rink with backward crossovers as he had with the forward crossovers. Once he’s finished another lap around the rink, he rejoins Nicklas in the center of the ice. 

“Not bad. But, I can definitely see ways to improve your skating,” Nicklas says. “We’ll work on extensions and alignment. Some edge work will also help.” 

Sasha nods. He’s not really listening to what Nicklas is saying (for all he knows, he asked him to slam his head into the boards), but he can’t help it. Nicklas’s voice is melodic and Sasha can’t help but love his accent either. “Ok. Whatever you think will help,” he says. 

Nicklas nods. “Right,” he says. “Let’s get started then.” He motions for Sasha to watch his movements as he demonstrates how to dig his blades into the ice and extend before moving his weight to the other foot. 

Sasha nods along and then when Nicklas asks him to try it, he startles at the question, but does. He tries very hard to not let Nicklas’s gaze make his knees go wobbly as he takes off down the ice. He can feel Nicklas’s eyes on him on every stroke he takes, like a laser boring into him. Sasha likes the feeling of his intense focus. 

“Better,” Nicklas says when Sasha returns to him. “It already looks better, but you still can improve on it. So, I’m going to give you an exercise for you to practice.” He goes on to demonstrate how he wants Sasha to start at the goal line with him - feet in a V formation, knees bent - and how he wants Sasha to rock forward more onto his toes to dig into the ice. Sasha knows he can do that. Easy. He remembers learning this as a kid. 

He feels like the lesson has just started when Nicklas says, “Ok. That’s the end of our time.” 

Shit. He really hadn’t anticipated this lesson going so quickly. Or that he would actually have things to work on. He didn’t even get a chance to flirt. Shit. Shit. “Oh. Um. Can we do more lessons?” Sasha asks.

Nicklas stares at him like he’s an idiot who is missing some crucial piece of information. “I don’t know that I have the time available for more lessons with you. I have a lot of other students and there is only so much ice time.” 

Sasha presses his lips together. “Let me know time available and I work something out. I will arrange something. I email you,” he responds. He’ll just have to talk to the rink about private ice time. They’ll let him have it if he asks. 

“Ok,” Nicklas says, skating toward the rink exit and disappearing out the door into the skating coaches staff room. 

Sasha takes another lap around the rink and then heads back to his own locker room to change. 

He stops by the front desk to talk with Maureen before he leaves. She only yells at him a little for his request. And she didn’t do it in public. He’ll take that as a win.

\---

Somehow the rink feels colder at 5:30 in the morning. Sasha’s not sure how that’s possible, but he feels a chill run up his spine and somehow he convinces himself that is definitely the case. Maybe it’s because he’s not wearing all of his gear. They are only working on skating. No need for full gear. 

“I see we have private ice time,” Nicklas says, his skates the only sound on the ice. He’s clearly been out on the ice for a bit judging by all of the blade marks. He stops in an aggressive hockey stop and sprays snow on Sasha. Sasha thinks he sees a smirk pulling at his lips, but he could very well be imagining that. 

Sasha smiles, the most charming one he has. He looks like a dope, he’s sure. He steps onto the ice and skates a little behind Nicklas, heading toward center ice. “Yes. I talk to staff. I pay for extra time. Was hoping we could make this a regular lesson three times a week,” he says. 

Nicklas doesn’t say anything, he just takes another lap around the ice before returning to Sasha. “Let’s start with some edge exercises. Outside edges first.” He skates over to the end of the blue line.

Sasha nods and follows. “Ok, Nicklas.” 

“Nicke...Nicky,” Nicklas says. “You can call me Nicky.” 

Sasha’s breath catches in his throat as he tries to mumble out a “yes” before watching Nicklas...no, Nicky, demonstrate. He stands on the blue line, then pushes with his left foot away from the blue line and glides on his right foot in a semicircle, his arms scissoring at the top. He alternates feet as he moves down the blue line in the pattern. 

It takes Sasha a few moments to remember that he’s supposed to be focusing on skating and not how good his coach’s butt looks in his tight figure skating leggings. And god does it look good. So very, very good. His brain may go offline momentarily.

“Whenever you want to try, feel free,” Nicky calls across the ice, his back still to Sasha. He reboots quickly.

“Right. Of course,” Sasha calls back, realizing that he’s still staring at Nicky’s ass. 

He sets himself up in the same position as Nicky had and begins the pattern. It takes him a few repetitions, but Sasha understands what Nicky is trying to teach him. Holding the edges on a curve will give him better control over his skates, so he hopefully won’t lose an edge and go flying across the ice. 

By the end of the lesson, he had even garnered a compliment from Nicky, even though he was wobbly on the first set of semi-circles down the blue line. Finding his balance had been a little more difficult than he had expected. How had Nicky made it look so effortless? 

When Sasha finishes another set of outside edges across the rink, this time smoother and more comfortable than the last, he comes to a stop, spraying a little snow on Nicky’s skates. “Very good,” he says, patting Sasha on the shoulder. “That’s it for today’s lesson. Next lesson would be on Monday to give you some time to practice what we’ve done in the last two days. Does that work?” 

Sasha smiles back, and he feels his dick stirring to life the closer Nicky gets to him. Oh no. Sasha takes a deep breath, trying to relax. “Ok. Ummm…” 

Nicky raises an eyebrow. “What? Does that not work?”

“Oh. No. Is fine. I just...nevermind,” Sasha says, his smile falters. “See you Monday!” He has to get off the ice. Now. He skates off the ice, leaving Nicky with a concerned expression. 

\---

The next two days of the break feel strange to Sasha as this is the first time since his rookie season he doesn’t have any other real plans, so he mostly settles for catching up on any recent Netflix series.

He doesn’t get very far on any series, however. He can’t sit still long enough for it to be interesting, his thoughts of Nicky overtaking everything. Images of Nicky’s strong arms patting on his shoulder during practice morph into his arms wrapping around him and pulling him close. The disapproving and annoyed tone of Nicky’s voice morphs into whispered vague threats that are really sweet jokes. His imagination keeps running a mile a minute with new scenarios. He turns to YouTube for some background noise. If he’s going to think about Nicky, might as well have a good soundtrack for it. 

He doesn’t mean to find the videos he does. It just kind of happens when he’s poking around looking for that song by Daft Punk that he can’t remember the name of. The combination of his previous search history and his endless scrolling lead him right to them. 

Sasha knows that Nicky used to be a competitive skater. He read his bio on the rink’s website the first night he got home, which of course had made his longing to know Nicky even stronger, but he didn’t actually think to look for any videos at the time. But here it is. A video of Nicklas Backstrom’s Senior Grand Prix short program from 2006. And Sasha can’t help but click on the play button. 

Nicky is very young with his horrible bleached blonde hair that’s been gelled back. Sasha is glad he’s stopped bleaching if he’s honest. Nicky looks so much better with his natural dirty blonde hair, but the Nicky on the screen is still adorable. But, his eyes are still the same as they are now. Focused and determined and beautifully green.

Sasha can’t help but be enraptured by the video once the music for the program begins and Nicky starts moving. He’s awkward in the ways that teenagers who haven’t quite grown into themselves are, but he's charming. His motions are large and over-exaggerated, but also graceful and strong. That part of Nicky hasn’t changed from what Sasha’s seen. He makes everything look so easy and effortless but knows exactly what he’s doing. Sasha can tell just from watching that he was a tough competitor. He adds that to his mental Nicky file. 

As the music swells for Nicky’s program, Nicky transitions into a jump entrance, and when he lands the Quad Salchow, Sasha knows that his heart is a goner. There’s emotion spilling out from every movement, but it’s so carefully calculated. Sasha really wants to see him win.

The video ends and he lets it roll into another video of Nicky’s performances, all thoughts of Netflix entirely forgotten.

\---

When he’s not consumed by the videos he’s found on YouTube during these two days, Sasha spends quite a bit of time at the rink practicing his skating techniques to impress Nicky. According to Amanda he just keeps missing Nicky, which is both a blessing and a curse. The last time Nicky had been at the rink and Sasha had been there to practice, Sasha had ended up just sitting on the sideboards, taking pictures with small children who asked and watching Nicky’s every move. He never got any practicing in.

Sunday afternoon, however, finds Sasha back at the rink for a second practice session in one day. He hadn’t meant to be at the rink again, but he had finished three episodes of  _ Stranger Things _ before he felt himself start to get restless _.  _

“Back again? Weren’t you just here this morning?” Amanda asks him when she steps into the rink to chat with one of the rink guards. 

Sasha shrugs at her awkwardly. “Yeah. Bored,” he says. 

“He’s not here yet,” she says. Her smile says everything she doesn’t. Maybe he needs to be less obvious with his crush on Nicky.

“Right,” he responds, as he skates by her. He’s not really working on anything right now, just enjoying the feeling of ice beneath his feet as he skates. The rink isn’t very busy, so he’s also enjoying the lack of people asking him for a photo or anything like that. 

He’s made it most of the way around the rink at a leisurely pace when he notices a little girl in a pink helmet that he definitely recognizes. She makes her way to the usual coned off lesson area of the ice. Sasha smiles and looks over into the stands to find Lauren sitting there, a Capitals blanket wrapped around her legs. Sasha feels something flutter in his stomach. Oh. Nicky’s going to be teaching soon. 

Sure enough, a moment later, Nicky steps onto the ice and then takes off around the outer edge of the rink at a faster than average pace and then makes his way to the lesson area. He ignores that Sasha is on the ice entirely, all of his attention focused on Lyla and her attempts to skate backward and Sasha feels his heart sink a little. 

Sasha takes a few more laps around the rink, doing his best to not get distracted by Nicky crouching down on the ice to fix Lyla’s skate lace. But, oh it is not going well. He can’t keep his eyes off of Nicky even when he’s not crouched over, which becomes evident when he runs into a teenage girl working on the same patterns as he should be. Damnit. Luckily he has good reflexes and catches her before they both hit the ice. 

He apologizes to the girl profusely, trying not to make a big scene. He doesn’t need a repeat of Nicky and his first encounter - though he definitely wouldn’t mind Nicky acknowledging his existence - and then quickly decides he’s not going to get any real practice in. He makes his way off the ice through the player’s bench and he can feel eyes on him as he does. He’s almost positive they’re Nicky’s, but he doesn’t turn around to find out. Just the thought of Nicky’s gaze being entirely focused on him not related to his skating is enough to get him half hard. Fuck. He wasn’t planning on taking a shower, but now he has to. 

Sasha sits down in his locker room stall and unties his skates, now very aware of the growing erection in his sweats. He sighs and quickly rids himself of his skates and the rest of his clothes, leaving them in a pile on the floor. He grabs a towel from his locker, making a mental note that he’ll have to take it home to wash since the equipment managers are also on a break, and heads directly into the showers. He feels like a teenager in how easily Nicky was able to work him up with only a look. 

He turns the water on and immediately wraps his hand around his cock. He can’t let this linger. Not if he wants to chat with Lauren before Lyla’s lesson ends and just casually be there when Nicky comes over to talk with her.

He moves his hands rapidly up and down the length, swirling his palms over the head of his cock on every upstroke in the way he knows he likes best. It doesn’t take long with him picturing all of the ways he wants Nicklas Backstrom fucking him on every available surface in his house. The couch. The kitchen counter. The swing on the back patio overlooking the yard. He bites down on his bottom lip to muffle the moan that leaves his throat when he comes, spilling over his hand and leaving his knees weak. 

Sasha stands with his head against the shower wall, hand still wrapped around his now flaccid cock, breathing deeply and trying to pull himself together. He eventually does and rinses any sweat and left overcome from him, then proceeds to redress as quickly as he can. 

He makes his way from the locker room over to the stands where Lauren is engrossed in another book. 

“Hi Lauren,” he says, flopping down next to her. 

Lauren, however, clearly doesn’t hear him when he sits, as she startles and lets out a small shriek. “You scared me,” she says when she finally catches her breath. “I didn’t think you’d ever be quiet enough to scare me.” 

Sasha chuckles. “Must be good book,” he says. 

She smiles back, bookmarks the page, and puts the book into her purse. “So, what’s up Alex?” 

“I see you back from trip,” Sasha says. “How was it?” 

“It was good. Disney was a lot of fun. The girls saw all of the princesses. We had breakfast with them one morning. It was just a nice break,” she says. 

“Good, good.” Sasha smiles. He looks out at the ice to see Nicky bending down and moving Lyla’s foot on the ice. 

“So, how has your break been?” She asks, startling Sasha out of a daydream about what it would be like to raise a child with Nicky. Nicky’s so good with them. He can just picture it. Teaching a small child to skate in both hockey and figure skates. It would be incredible. Oh fuck. Fuck. Fuck. He’s fallen so hard, so fast, he’s not sure he can handle this. 

Sasha turns to stare at Lauren, taking a moment to process the question she asked him. “It’s good. Been here. Doing extra skating. Taking lessons. You know.” 

“I see,” she says. Oh no. He knows that tone of voice. She knows exactly what he’s doing. “So you--” She tries to continue, but Lyla runs toward her with her skates clinking on the bleachers. Nicky following close behind interrupts them. 

“Sorry,” Nicky says, in a voice that Sasha has never heard from Nicky. It’s light and happy and he sounds like he was just laughing at something. “She had a very good lesson and was very excited to tell you all about it.” He looks over at Sasha. “Oh, hi, Alex. Practicing today?” 

Sasha can feel his cheeks starting to heat up and he presses his lips together before sputtering out, “Yes...no...I mean...I was, but I had talk to Lauren...important hockey thing...you see--” 

“I’m glad to hear Lyla’s lesson went well,” Lauren interrupts, cutting him off before he can make more of a fool of himself. 

Nicky nods, returning his attention to Lauren. “She does need a little work with skating backward, but I think with a little more practice, she’ll do just fine.” 

Sasha is grateful that Lauren has taken the attention off him for a moment while he stops his brain from malfunctioning because Nicky sounded nice. He’ll have to thank her for that later.

“Ok. We’ll make sure she practices that specifically,” Lauren says, bending down to start taking off Lyla’s skates. “Maybe Alex can help her.” 

“Oh, yes. I help,” Sasha spits out in one breath. Lauren tries to hold back giggles.

“Good,” Nicky says. “Have a good week Lyla.” He waves at her and she waves back enthusiastically.

Nicky has almost made it back onto the ice when Sasha calls out. “Nicky, would you...would you like to grab lunch when you finished?” 

He turns back around and Sasha all of a sudden feels like he shouldn’t have even asked the question. Nicky’s expression morphs instantly. The slight downturn of Nicky’s lips says it all. “I can’t,” Nicky responds. 

“I see. It’s ok. Another time,” Sasha says, waving Nicky back to the ice. His face matching Nicky’s in disappointment. “You should get back to students.” 

Nicky stares at him for a long moment, but Sasha can’t read his expression. Then, Nicky heads back to meet a little boy dressed in all hockey gear. Sasha watches him go the entire way, doing his best not to stare at Nicky’s butt, but failing. 

Lauren sighs, finished with Lyla’s skates, and Sasha startles. “Wow,” she says. “Just wow.” 

Sasha groans. “I know…” He watches as Lauren carefully packs the rest of Lyla’s skating gear into a bag and Lyla bounces on her toes. 

She smiles at him as she slings the bag over her shoulders. “He’ll come around,” she says. 

Sasha hopes she’s right.

  
  


\---

The cold of the rink in the early mornings is something Sasha is starting to adjust to, even if he still isn’t quite as awake as he wants to be at the early morning sessions. He finishes relacing his left skate for what is probably the third time and finally takes the ice again. Had he been fully awake when he laced them the first time, he wouldn’t have fallen flat on his face during his first lap on the ice. But then again he also wouldn’t have heard Nicky’s beautiful laugh echo through the rink as he asked if Sasha was ok. He wants to hear him laugh again. It’s such a nice change from the careful and measured way he usually talks to Sasha. Maybe falling was ok. Even if it did hurt more without all his gear.

“Are you ready this time, Alex?” Nicky asks, still trying to keep the laughter from his voice, when Sasha has stepped carefully onto the ice for a third attempt. He’s standing at the faceoff dot with his arms crossed and there’s a smile threatening to take over his whole face that Sasha wishes he would just let happen. It doesn’t. 

“Yes,” Sasha responds, skating to the faceoff dot as well. “Ready now. And you can call me Sasha.” 

Nicky nods. “Ok, Sasha,” he says and Sasha lights up at the use of the affectionate name. “Let’s go then. Forward crossover perimeter stroking. Just like we’ve been working on. Don’t fall on your face this time.” 

Sasha chuckles. “No promises.” Then, he takes a deep breath and skates to the end of the rink and begins the pattern. 

“Very good, Sasha,” Nicky says after Sasha completes another lap around the rink. “Seeing a lot of improvement in such a very short period of time. Really good. Ok. Let’s take a look at--what?” 

Sasha is out of breath from skating the pattern, but he can’t help but preen under the compliment. Nicky looks so happy with him today. This is exactly what he wants. He skates back to Nicky and looks down at his skates before meeting Nicky’s eyes. He licks his lips and then moves a little closer. He hopes he hasn’t read this wrong. “Nicky, I--Do you--would you go to dinner with me?” 

Nicky skates back a little from Sasha. “I can’t,” Nicky says, his tone returning to the usual neutral that Sasha has come to know. Oh. Oh no. Something clicks in Sasha’s mind. Nicky isn’t actually interested. It’s not that he doesn’t have time, it’s that he just doesn’t want to. 

Sasha takes a deep breath and nods. “I understand,” he pauses, looking down at his skates, “I think I’m done today. You can use the ice the rest of the time.” 

“Sasha--Alex--” 

“No, it’s ok Nicky. Really.” He needs to get off the ice before he makes a bigger mistake than asking out a man who clearly doesn’t want to go out with him.

Nicky nods, but Sasha doesn’t look up to see him. Instead, he turns and skates toward the locker room. He thinks he hears Nicky call something after him, but he doesn’t know what. It doesn’t matter right now. 

\---

Tuesday arrives. He cancels his skating lessons for the foreseeable future.

\---

Thursday finds Sasha itching to be on the ice, but he’s afraid of finding Nicky at the rink. Maybe he should just email Amanda and ask for his schedule so he can plan to be there when Nicky isn’t. He can’t bring himself to be anywhere near Nicky without wanting to touch him or make a fool of himself, but that doesn’t mean that he shouldn’t practice. He manages to pull himself off of the couch by mid-afternoon and gets to the rink in a decent amount of time. He doesn’t stop to talk to anyone and heads straight to the Capitals locker room to find his skates.

There are relatively few people on the ice when he finally makes his way over to the sheet. It is 2PM on a weekday, but it’s also a public skate session, so he had expected it to be more crowded. The good news for him, however, is that Nicky doesn’t seem to be anywhere on the ice.

Or so he thought. He barely gets one lap around the rink when a figure dressed in all black skates up next to him and manages to keep pace as he tries to skate away faster.

“So, you aren’t sick,” Nicky says, a distinct neutral tone to his voice. 

Nicky keeps pace with Sasha and Sasha can’t see any way to shake him short of leaving the ice. But, he knows Nicky isn’t afraid to follow him into restricted areas. He might as well face this now.

Sasha sighs. “No.” 

“And yet you canceled your lessons,” Nicky says. 

He goes to open his mouth to respond, but knows there is no point. He stops quickly along the boards at the end of the rink. “Yes,” he says. 

“Why?” 

Sasha presses his lips together and shakes his head. “I--I just--” 

“That’s not an answer,” Nicky says, a little heat cracking the surface of his tone. “I expect to see you at our next lesson on Tuesday.” 

“But,” Sasha starts. “The season is set to resume. I don’t know that I’ll have time--” 

“So, you’re quitting?” 

Sasha takes a deep breath. No one accuses him of quitting. Ever. “No,” he says, trying to keep his voice as even as possible. “I’m not.”

“Then I’ll see you on Tuesday.” Nicky skates off to the center of the ice and is met by a small girl dressed all in pink who Sasha recognizes immediately. Lyla, which means--he scans the stands in the rink to see that yes, Lauren is sitting there bundled in her fleece blanket. 

Sasha skates off the session and changes back into his sneakers before carefully climbing the stands to sit next to Lauren. 

“Hi, Alex,” she says, not looking up from her book. 

He laughs. “I not scare you this time.” 

“I saw you coming,” she says, shutting her book. “What’s wrong?” 

“Why you think somethings wrong?” He keeps staring out at the ice. He’s definitely not tracking Nicky’s movement. Nope. Not at all. 

“Uh-huh,” she says. “I take it you’re still not dating him.” 

Sasha sighs. “No. I ask him out twice. He just turns me down. I don’t understand why this is so hard!” 

She gives him a look that he only reads as pity. No. She presses her lips together. “I know it’s hard Alex. Maybe you need to try a different approach.”

He turns to look at her. “Maybe you’re right.” 

“I’m always right,” she says, smirking. 

Sasha laughs. “That’s what T.J. always says too. Say hello to him for me, yes?” 

“Of course Alex. And if you need anything, we’re always just around the corner. Don’t be a stranger.” 

He nods and stands up. “I will.” Then he turns and heads toward the exit. He’s going to have to figure something out. The season is starting back up and he can’t let being stupidly infatuated with someone who isn’t returning his affection ruin the team’s chances to put their season back on track.

\---

The All-Star break officially comes to an end and Sasha has had three skating lessons with Nicky and he’s feeling great. He’s ready to start winning again. 

And that’s just what they do. 

Their first game back from the break is that night and the team plays hard and beats the Flames 4-3. Nearly everyone on the ice gets into a fight at the tail end of the third period. It’s exhilarating. Sasha’s glad to see that the break really did do them good. He’s also surprised when Reirden mentions that Sasha’s skating better than he was before the break. Well, if Sasha needs a reason to keep seeing Nicky, Reirden has just given him the perfect one. Not that he was planning on stopping lessons anytime soon. Especially not after Nicky called him a quitter. 

  
  


\---

Nicky is waiting for him on the ice at their now reinstated 5:30 AM private ice lesson as he always is on Tuesdays and Thursday (unless Sasha has to travel for a game, of course).

Sasha’s just made his way out of the locker room and is standing in the player’s box watching as Nicky skates across the ice. He’s so powerful and fast and Sasha watches every muscle in his legs move in tandem with one another as Nicky pulls around on his inside edge and pushes into a sit-spin. Sasha could watch him forever. Nicky transitions from the sit spin into an upright spin, and Sasha is mesmerized. He breaks out into loud applause, the type that’s definitely appropriate for a hockey game, but probably not a figure skating event, the moment Nicky checks out of the spin, which makes Nicky laugh. Nicky’s beautiful laugh. 

“It’s not that impressive,” he says, skating over to the boards. He grabs a tissue from a box that’s sitting there and blows his nose. How is it that even blowing his nose, Sasha finds him ridiculously cute? “You want to see impressive?” Nicky smirks and Sasha melts. He nods, mouth hanging a little open, and Nicky shakes his head.

He pushes off the boards and toward the red goal line, picking up a lot of speed in the process. He mohawks to turn himself around as he nears the end boards and uses backward crossovers to pick up more speed, then he glides on his left outside edge, pulls his right foot back, and slams the toe pick into the ice. He pushes himself into the air, rotating faster than Sasha has ever seen a figure skater -- not that he’s watched many beyond the Nicky videos that he has on replay sometimes. Nicky lands gracefully on his right foot and skates back to the board, spraying Sasha with some snow when he stops.

“Quadruple Lutz. Still got it. Now that’s impressive.” 

“Yes, it is,” Sasha gasps, his mouth dry. He hopes he doesn’t sound like a complete idiot. “I can’t do any of that at all.” 

Nicky shakes his head. “You’re skating in hockey skates. There’s no toe-pick. I don’t expect you to be able to do some of the things that I can do. Besides, we aren’t here to work on freestyle for you.”

“But--” 

“No, we aren’t going to teach you jumps in your hockey skates. I feel like your trainers would kill me if you got hurt from anything like that.” 

Sasha chuckles. “I don’t know that they would.” 

Nicky closes his eyes like he can’t believe he’s going to argue with Sasha over this. He takes a deep breath, massaging the bridge of his nose. “Yes, they absolutely would. Are you kidding me? They would absolutely ask me for a meeting and then quietly dispose of my body for hurting their star player. I’m not an idiot.” 

Sasha snorts. “Right. Sure, sure. Ok.” Oh, now he wants to learn how to do that. Maybe it will impress Nicky. He could watch YouTube channels or see if some of the kids know.

“So, what has the training staff been saying about your skating. What’s the skill set from them that we need to work on?” Nicky says, bringing Sasha back to the present. 

“Reirden told me during practice that my skating is looking better, but I could still be faster.” He may be stretching the truth on what he was actually told, but Nicky doesn’t need to know that. 

“Faster. Ok. I think I can work with that,” Nicky says, skating away from the boards and to the red goal line. “We’re going to do some dig in drills then. Work on getting you some more leverage to push with when you’re skating.” 

Sasha nods and skates over to stand next to Nicky. “Ok.” 

“Here’s what I want,” Nicky starts. He crouches down, digs the front of his skates into the ice and the position thrusts Nicky’s ass into Sasha’s view. Sasha’s brain starts to short circuit almost immediately. Nicky’s ass is amazing, he knows this, has known this for weeks now, and yet, here he is balling his hands into fists and tensing them by his side, fighting the urge to touch. Why is this his life? He knows Nicky’s not interested. And he only still takes lessons because he doesn’t back down from a challenge. So, why is he like this? 

But, before his brain can go completely offline, Nicky pushes off his skates and takes off down the rink. When he gets to the other end, he looks back for Sasha and makes a disapproving face when he sees Sasha still standing at the other end of the rink. He can’t have that. He can’t have Nicky with that look of disappointment, so he crouches down into position and takes off as fast as he can toward the other end of the rink. 

Somehow, he manages to make it through all of the drills that Nicky has asked of him. He’s sweating and out of breath like he’s had to bag skate for an entire practice. He’s hunched over, hands on his knees when Nicky skates over to and leans down to be at the same level. He can feel Nicky’s breath close to his ear and he really has to try to not let his brain wander.

“Lots of improvements,” Nicky says. “It’s coming along. I think with some more practices, you’ll be as fast as the team wants you to be.” 

“That sounds good. The team will be very happy,” he agrees, giving Nicky the biggest smile he knows how. 

“Yes, they will. And that ends our time for today,” Nicky continues. “I’ll see you on Thursday.” And then he skates off the ice without looking at Sasha at all as he heads down to the rink staff lounge. Sasha didn’t even get a chance to try to flirt with him. How is he supposed to win Nicky’s heart if he can’t even flirt with him? He keeps looking in Nicky’s direction, hoping he may come back, but he doesn’t.

Sasha takes a lap around the ice, letting his feet feel how they glide, settling his head. And that’s when it hits him. The new plan - how he’s going to win Nicky’s heart. He leaves the ice feeling lighter than he has in a while.

  
  


\---

Sasha sits back in his stall in the locker room. Everyone else is long gone and he can’t shake the feeling of practice from his limbs. It weighs heavy how mediocre it was. They’re going to be able to continue down this road and win. He knows it and he knows the team knows it, but they can’t seem to make plays connect.

He finally moves and takes a quick shower, putting his sweats back on and pulling his skates on as well. He walks through the rink, ignoring the stares from the people skating on the public session and into the lobby of the Medstar Iceplex. 

Amanda’s at the desk and she smiles when she sees him approach. 

“And how can I help you today, Mr. Ovechkin?” She tries to hide her smile, but fails. 

“I’m going to skate the public session,” he says. “Just add it to my monthly ice rental charges.” 

“Ok,” she says. “You know he’s not here today.” 

“Yes, I know. It’s kind of what I was hoping for.” He reaches into his hoodie pocket and pulls out an envelope. “Can you make sure he gets these tickets for the next home game?” 

She nods. “Ok, I can leave them for him in his mailbox. And you’re all good to go for the session.” 

“Thanks,” he responds. Then, he turns and heads toward the ice. 

He steps on, and he can instantly feel the eyes on him. But he has a goal today. He can’t be distracted by people asking for photos or wanting to chat. After a lap around the rink, no one comes near him, which he appreciates, and he can get on with his plan. 

There’s a boy, probably around twelve, in the center of the ice working on jumps that look like something Sasha could learn. Perfect. That’s exactly who he’s looking for. He skates over to him. 

“Hi,” Sasha says, crouching down to talk to the boy. He reaches out his hand for the boy to shake. 

“Hi,” the boy says back. He sounds unimpressed and looks a little wary of talking to Sasha, but Sasha can’t blame him. Sure. Sasha can deal with that.

“I saw you working on jumps. You’re really good. Do you think you can teach me?” 

The boy looks at Sasha with wide eyes. “I mean, I guess.” 

“That would be great,” Sasha says. 

“Cool,” the boy says, then he starts explaining how the jumps work, probably exactly as his skating coach taught him and Sasha couldn’t be more excited. 

\---

Sasha pushes his feet harder and bends his knees as much as they’ll let him. He’s done this pattern at least six times already and he thinks he’s finally got it down almost perfectly. 

He’s sweating as he comes to the boards to catch his breath and the silence of the rink is a comfort to everything that’s been rushing around through his head for the last few days. He takes a deep breath and prepares to take another go at the pattern when he hears the slow clapping coming from across the rink. 

He looks up to see Nicky stepping on to the ice. How is it 5:30 already?

“That looks really good,” Nicky says, skating across the ice. “You’ve made a lot of progress.” 

Sasha stares at him and presses his lips together. “Thank you, Nicky. I’ve been working on it.” 

“I can tell,” Nicky says, skating to the usual spot on center ice. “Ready to get started then?” 

“Uh...yeah,” Sasha says, joining Nicky. “Yeah, what are we working on today?” 

“We’re going to work on the pattern backward. You should be just as fast backward as you are forwards,” he says, skating toward the goalline. “I’ll demonstrate and then we’ll work on it for you.” 

“Ok,” Sasha says. 

And that’s exactly what happens. 

Sasha pays careful attention to Nicky’s instructions and the pattern comes easy. He doesn’t realize that the whole lesson has gone by until he finishes running the pattern again and rejoins Nicky. 

“Good. Very good. And that’s our lesson,” Nicky says. 

“Oh,” Sasha says, surprise in his voice. “Went by really fast.” 

“It can,” Nicky replies. A pause, then. “I’ll see you when you get back from your road trip.” 

“Yes.” 

“Make sure to practice.” 

“Yes.” 

“Ok. Have a good trip.” Nicky pats Sasha on the arm and Sasha thinks it may linger for a moment, but then Nicky skates off the ice and doesn’t look back. 

Maybe the “practice really hard and get really good at skating” plan isn’t working in the way he wants. Nicky looks happier when he’s teaching Sasha, which is great, but somehow... _ somehow  _ there’s still no date.

  
  


\---

Three weeks and five losses out of thirteen games later, Sasha paces the floor of his kitchen. If anyone else had been pacing in his kitchen at midnight after a home game that ended several hours ago, Sasha would have made some comment by now about them wearing a hole into the floor. But, it’s him and maybe he can finally understand why some of his teammates have come over and done this exact same thing. It really does help him organize his thoughts a little bit, even if they don’t land where he wants them. 

The team is winning, which is good. They’re back on track to where they want to be despite the losing streak from January that they’re just not going to talk about. But, even with the team winning, Sasha’s been distracted, which has led to more close games than he or the team would like. 

Today’s game serves as a perfect example. There’s no reason that they needed to take that game to OT today against the Rangers. That should have been a clear and easy win. But, there had been too many weird bounces with the puck and he’d been nearly non-existent in helping his teammates. He’d been so distracted, thinking of what his next move would be since they were finally back home after a two-week road trip that he definitely missed a bunch of plays that Zhenya put out there. 

He stops briefly and flops face-first onto the kitchen island, letting the cold granite soak into his skin. He has to fix this. Nicky is now a full-blown distraction and Sasha’s not sure how much more the team is going to put up with his day-dreamy play. If he’s honest with himself, he really thought that he would have either seduced Nicky enough to have gone on an actual date by now (or even better slept with him). It usually doesn’t take people that long if he shows any kind of interest in them. But Nicky seems to not be taking any of the hints that Sasha has been dropping. Ugh. Sasha desperately wants to talk to him outside of the ice even though he’s only known the man for a month. 

He should probably talk to someone about this.

Pushing himself up from the counter, Sasha reaches for his mobile phone, which he’s plugged in to charge. He scrolls through the contact list and finally settles on who to talk to before he worries himself into a full out panic. He presses call before he can change his mind. 

The phone rings and rings and Sasha worries that his call will go unanswered, but just as he’s about to give up, the other end of the line connects. 

“Hey Ovi! What’s up man?” T.J. says. He sounds a little sleepy and Sasha feels a little guilty for calling so late, but not enough to hang up.

“T.J. How things?” Sasha starts. “Everything good?” 

“Yeah, yeah. Things are going well. You?” T.J. responds. 

“It’s...it’s going ok,” Sasha says and immediately regrets calling. This is a mistake. He should hang up the phone right now.

“Mmhmm,” TJ responds. “So, what did you need Ovi?” There’s some extra noise on T.J.’s end of the call and Sasha thinks he hears Lauren whisper something to T.J.

“Oh, nothing. Nothing. Just...calling everyone and checking in on them...you know...captain things,” Sasha says. This was definitely a bad idea. He’s a terrible liar. He needs to get off the phone quick before--

“Uh-huh,” T.J. says. “I don’t believe you. Why don’t you try again with the real reason you called?” 

Fuck. “No, no. That is why I call,” Sasha tries again, hoping his voice sounds more confident this time around. 

T.J. scoffs and Sasha is definitely sure he hears Lauren on the phone as well. T.J. must have the phone on speaker now. He should have guessed this would happen. He sighs. 

“Look,” T.J. says. “You don’t have to tell me --oof-- ok, yes Lauren -- but it will probably be good if you do...and if you don’t, I can’t make any guarantees that Lauren won’t drive over there to talk.” 

Sasha groans. “Ok,” Sasha says. “I...I’ve been taking skating lessons.” 

“I know,” T.J. says. 

“How do you...wait, nevermind...I think...How...How do I convince Nicky to go on date?” Sasha hesitates and then word vomits, his English beginning to fail him. “He just so pretty. I want to run fingers through hair. I want to kiss pouty frown he always has for me off his face. And it’s bad T.J. I can’t think about anything else. Hockey is...I just…” 

“Yes!” He hears Lauren exclaim in the background and Sasha sighs. 

“Sorry,” T.J. says. “She’s very excited.” 

“Nick deserves someone nice! He always seems so lonely,” Lauren says, sounding closer to the phone.

“I don’t want him to be lonely,” Sasha whines. “But, I don’t know what else to do. I try everything short of showing up naked on ice. He refuses my lunch invitations, which Lauren has seen. He won’t take tickets to the games. He ignores all my flirting. But then he bends over right in front of me during lessons where I have problems trying to not touch...like he knows that it drives me insane, but then when I try to ask out it’s always ‘No, I can’t. No, sorry. Sasha, no.’ He can’t just do that! I even tried new plan where I practiced really hard and all it got me were compliments. No date!”

“Leave it to me!” Lauren says. She’s very clearly taken the phone from T.J. at this point. “I have an idea.” 

T.J. laughs. “Are you going to share the idea? Or are we going to have to guess?” 

A pause. “Ow!” T.J. yelps. 

Sasha snorts. T.J. probably deserved that.

“Ignore him,” Lauren says. “It’s simple. I’ll bring him to the game tomorrow. All you have to do is show up. Wear something nice. Not that horrible blue suit you love so much.” 

“My suit isn’t--” 

“Yes, it is. If you can’t figure out what to wear I’ll send T.J. to help.” 

Sasha groans at the thought. “I don’t think he will come. What if--” 

“He’ll come. Just trust me on this.” 

Sasha sighs. “Ok,” he says. 

“Good. Now, I’ve got some planning to do,” Lauren says before T.J.’s back on the line. 

“Well...looks like she’s got it covered,” T.J. says. “Is there anything you needed?” 

A pause. “No.” 

“You sure?” T.J. asks, his voice soft like he uses with the rookies. 

“No,” Sasha sighs. “I...I don’t know. I just…” 

“Babe,” T.J. starts. “You know you can tell me anything. It’s fine.” 

He’s gonna regret this, but here he is. “I’m really hoping things work out. I like him so much. And I didn’t think I’d ever like anyone else again after--” 

T.J nods. “I know. Lauren’s gonna do everything she can to make this work. Trust me. She loves Nicky and she really wants him to be happy.” 

Sasha smiles, even though he knows T.J. can’t see it. “It’s nice to have someone on my side.” 

More whispering on T.J.’s side of the phone. Must be Lauren back. “Yeah, it is, dude. Well, I’m gonna go. Lauren’s asking me to do...I’m still trying to figure out what I’m supposed to do. Later.” 

“Ok. Thank you. Goodbye.” 

Sasha ends the call and puts his phone on the kitchen island, then collapses forward on top of it. He feels better about some things, but now he’s nervous about others. Like what he’s going to wear tomorrow. He doesn’t have time to get something new and Lauren will really kill him if he shows up in that blue suit again. 

He pulls himself up from the counter and trudges up the stairs to raid the closet in the bedroom. He’ll just have to pull everything out and see what works.

  
  


\---

Capital One Arena is awash in red for a Tuesday night game and the crowd is loud. It’s one of the things that Sasha has always loved about the D.C. fans. They show up and the team feeds off the energy of the fans. But first, the team has to give the fans something to be excited about. And that seems to be exactly what they’re doing.

He’s more focused tonight than he has been for weeks. But, he has to be. He can’t blow this. T.J. had smiled at him strangely before they took the ice for the game against the Senators and Sasha definitely knew something was up. But he hadn’t quite realized what exactly until Tommy scored the first goal for the Caps from his assist near the end of the first. 

Sasha skates over to Tom and Zhenya and envelops them in a huge hug. An assist on a goal is an assist. It’s the first period and they’re still down by one, but they’re feeling back in the game. They can do this. 

He looks up at the crowd in the arena for the first time this evening and that’s when he sees Nicky sitting with Lauren in the family section. She really did convince Nicky to come to their home game. As he sits back on the bench, he does his best to ignore that Nicky is there, watching him. He shouldn’t be this nervous, but he is. 

“Hey,” T.J. says, bumping him in the arm. “You ok?” 

Sasha runs his gloves over his face and takes a deep breath. “Nicky is here.” 

“I know,” T.J. replies. 

“I just--” 

“You want to impress him.” 

“Yeah.”

T.J. smirks like he’s just been told the best secret. “I think we can help with that. Trust me.”

He’s been doing that a lot with the Oshie’s lately. “Fine.” 

He keeps his eyes on the ice and Lars scores another goal. They’re tied. Now to just keep moving forward. He says the same thing in the locker room during the intermission, though he hopes he was more elegant in his words. He really can’t remember. 

He must’ve said the right thing though because the team comes out flying during the second period. Carly scores two minutes in and then T.J. scores another to put them ahead further. The energy in the arena feels electric and Sasha can’t wait to jump out on the ice for another shift. 

The second period ends with them up by four with Conno scoring and T.J. scoring again. The start of the third period has no sign of them slowing down, but the Senators are determined to not let them get any more goals. They play hard, blocking every shot anyone on the team can possibly try. 

That is until the last minute of the game. Sasha sees it happen out of the corner of his eye. Tom is running down the ice with the puck that Kemper had passed his way and he’s mowing everyone over in the process, but he overshoots in skating and passes back. Sasha should have been right there, but one of the Senators is trying to get in his way. 

Sasha takes a deep breath and pushes off of his left, jumping over the sliding Senator and manages to snag the puck when he lands, passing it immediately over to Zhenya, who is waiting at the net. He slides it in the back, and the game is over. They’ve won.

  
  


\---

Sasha paces around the locker room freshly showered and wearing his very nice grey suit, the one he bought for Zhenya’s wedding two years ago and only wears for special occasions. He runs his hands through his hair, pulling it up in different directions before smoothing it back down again. Everyone on the team, except T.J., has left by now, which he’s grateful for as he doesn’t want them to see him potentially fall on his face. 

“It’s going to be fine,” T.J. yells across the room and Sasha stops moving to look at him. “Lauren said she’d make sure he got here ok. No need to worry yourself to death.” 

“But, what if it isn’t?” Sasha replies. “What if...what if he says no?” 

T.J. shakes his head and walks over to Sasha, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Then you’ll pick yourself back up and find someone new.” 

Sasha sighs. “I don’t want anyone new. Just want him.” 

“I know,” T.J. says. He pulls Sasha into a hug and Sasha relaxes against him, the warmth from T.J.’s body comforting. 

“Are we interrupting something?” Lauren says, clearing her throat. 

T.J. laughs. “Yes, clearly,” T.J. says. He pushes Sasha away from him gently and Sasha immediately misses the warmth and comfort of being wrapped in someone’s arms. 

Lauren laughs and rolls her eyes at T.J. as she makes her way further into the locker room, Nicky trailing behind her. His hair is slicked back and he’s dressed in a black button-down with black pants, not something that Sasha would have expected him to wear to a hockey game, but he looks incredible nonetheless. If Sasha had his way, he would strip him down right now and fuck him in the middle of the locker room. 

Sasha opens his mouth to speak, but nothing comes out. He can feel his heart beating in his throat. He smiles instead and is saved from trying to speak again by Nicky.

“Your skating has definitely improved. Nice lines. Strong movements. Made you must faster than any other game I’ve seen you play in,” Nicky says, rocking back and forth on his feet, his hands carefully tucked in his pants pockets, and his expression the usual neutral that Sasha has come to love. “The waltz jump over Hall to get the puck was well executed as well.”

“Thank you. You’re a good coach,” Sasha replies.

“I didn’t teach you the waltz jump, so who did?” Nicky asks, a smile pulling at his lips. 

Sasha blushes, eyes going wide. “Umm...well...I may have...been watching you skate...and also may have asked some students to help…” 

The locker room door clicks and Sasha looks behind Nicky to see T.J. shoving Lauren out the door and pulling it closed. He’ll thank T.J. later for letting him have this moment without an audience. 

Nicky doesn’t notice the door, or if he does, it doesn’t bother him because all of his attention is focused solely on Sasha and that’s making his insides feel like they’re going to burn up. “I see,” he says. 

Sasha’s not sure what to say next. He sighs and looks down at the floor, kicking lightly against it, hoping something will come to him. 

It doesn’t. So, the two of them stand in silence only to be interrupted by pounding on the locker room door and muffled voices from the hallways that sound suspiciously like Lauren yelling about how the two of them are insufferable and T.J. trying to tell her to be quiet. It’s just what they need. 

Sasha looks up, smiles at Nicky, and chuckles. “I think they were eavesdropping,” he says, pointing toward the door. 

Nicky nods, his smile becoming a little bigger. “I know they were,” he responds. “But, I don’t date my students.” 

All of the air feels like it’s been sucked out of Sasha’s lungs. “What?” 

“I don’t date my students,” Nicky repeats. “I’m not blind, Alex. I can recognize flirting when I see it.” 

Sasha furrows his brows. This doesn’t make sense. “But, if you knew I was flirting,” he says, “why didn’t you say anything before?”

An actual full-blown smile lights up Nicky’s face, his eyes squeezing shut, and his teeth on full display. He chuckles. Sasha wants to melt into the floor. How did he end up so head over heels in love with this man? 

“I wanted to see how far you would go,” Nicky replies. “Lunch invitations. Private ice time that you don’t use and leave for me. Tickets to games that I already have tickets for. Random--” 

“You already have tickets to the games?” Sasha interrupts. 

Nicky rolls his eyes. “Yes, I do. Season tickets actually.” 

Sasha stares and presses his lips together. “But you’re dressed...like this?” 

Nicky sighs and laughs. Sasha could get used to that sound. “I’m dressed like this because Lauren told me to “dress nicely” when she informed me I was joining her for the game,” he says. “And while the family VIP section is very nice...though it doesn’t really compare to my seats...and as nice as it is to have company and hear all about how wonderful the Capitals captain is, which I already knew, I still cannot date my students.” 

“Oh,” Sasha says, feeling his heart drop. “I understand.” 

“I’m not sure you do,” Nicky says. 

There’s another commotion in the hallway, which sounds like Lauren sighing overdramatically and T.J. laughing, probably at her. “Oh my God, Alex!” Lauren yells. Maybe Sasha is missing something crucial here. 

He thinks for a moment and then says, “Nicky, you cannot date your students.” 

Nicky nods. “I’m not allowed to date my students. Correct. Part of the Safe Sport Initiative.” 

Sasha’s brows furrow and then he smiles, all teeth. “But, if I weren’t your student, we could date?” Nicky looks exasperated with him and he wants to kiss that look right off Nicky’s face. Sasha laughs. “Nicky,” he starts, “I’m really sorry, but you’re fired.”

Nicky nods, pressing his lips together, and for a moment, Sasha thinks he’s made a mistake. But, his mind changes almost immediately when Nicky steps forward toward him and pulls him close by his suit jacket lapels and presses a kiss to Sasha’s lips. “You’re an idiot,” he says when he pulls away and looks Sasha in the eyes. “Such an idiot.” 

“But, I’m your idiot,” Sasha replies, smiling and Nicky laughs, letting everything go when he does. He has the biggest smile on his face and Sasha hopes it stays there for days, months, years. 

“YES!” They hear what is definitely Lauren from the hallway scream, followed by T.J. saying, “Sorry about her. I promise we’re leaving now!” 

Sasha laughs a deep rumbling that comes from deep within him and pulls Nicky in for another kiss. “Want to get out of here and get dinner? Make up for all of the lunches you ditched me on?” He asks when they finally pull apart again. 

“Of course,” Nicky responds. “Since I’ve been fired from my job as your coach, I’ve got some free time I didn’t have before.” 

“Just means you’ll have more time for new job as boyfriend,” Sasha says, throwing his arm around Nicky’s shoulder and leading him toward the locker room door. He can’t get the smile off of his face.

**Author's Note:**

> Filling the sin bin prompt. Enjoy!
> 
> Moves in the Field is actually a figure skating test that has to be passed at each level to move on to the next one. I couldn't help but name my fic this. The double entendre was too good to resist.
> 
> A big, BIG shoutout to my beta for this fic, [clovercrown](https://archiveofourown.org/users/clovercrown), she really made it what it is. She has been reading and betaing a lot of my hockey fic, even though she can't pick these men out of a lineup. So thank you so much!


End file.
